“A Jonah day”

“A Jonah day” names the accumulation of misfortune that overtakes Anne Shirley in the chapter “A Jonah Day.” The phrase gathers together a night of toothache, a miserable winter morning, and the remorse that follows her loss of temper at school: an ordinary bad day becomes, for Anne, a moral reckoning.

Meaning and First Use

The chapter traces the day’s trouble back to the night before, when Anne Shirley lies awake with a grumbling toothache. She rises in a bitter winter morning already feeling that life is flat and unprofitable; her swollen cheek and aching face make the distress bodily as well as emotional. The phrase therefore describes more than a single mishap: it gives a name to a day whose troubles begin before Anne reaches school and gather momentum there.

Anne uses the expression that night while sobbing to Marilla Cuthbert: “Oh, this has been such a Jonah day, Marilla.” In context, the phrase is her compressed account of a day that has gone wrong both around her and through her own actions. Its force comes from that double burden: she has endured discomfort, but she is most ashamed of what she did in response to it.

The Schoolroom Crisis

At school, the cold, smoky room and a fire that refuses to burn make an already difficult morning worse. The children huddle together for warmth, while Anne Shirley, uncharacteristically sharp in her manner, sends them to their seats. Anthony Pye then whispers to a seat-mate and grins at her, aggravating the strained encounter.

The day’s defining turn comes when Anne loses her temper and whips Anthony Pye. Her anger passes quickly; shame and mortification take its place. She fears she cannot face the children again and believes she has destroyed her last chance of winning Anthony’s liking. In her imagination, Jane Andrews will triumph and J. A. Harrison will chuckle, but her deepest distress is the thought that Paul Irving looked surprised and disappointed.

Remorse and the Phrase’s Significance

Anne keeps back her tears until she gets home, then weeps in the east gable room for so long that Marilla Cuthbert becomes alarmed and insists on knowing what is wrong. Anne describes the trouble as a matter of conscience. Her use of “A Jonah day” thus marks a shift from counting external discomforts to confronting her own conduct: the day feels disastrous not simply because she suffered, but because she acted against the patience she had tried to practise.

Marilla Cuthbert’s response sharpens the contrast. She says she is glad Anne whipped Anthony Pye and believes Anne should have done so long ago, while Anne is ashamed of having lost her temper and fears the harm done to her relationship with her pupils. The expression holds these opposed judgments together. For Anne, the day is a calamity of conscience; the chapter makes clear that its most painful consequence is not the toothache or the cold, but her belief that she has forfeited the children’s respect and Anthony’s affection.